Like Father, Like Son
by Swiftchanted
Summary: Taylor was now fully intrigued, and Wash had leaned up a bit just awaiting the next answer from the Shannon boy. "So tell me Josh, what do you want to be?" Taylor asked. Beaming, Josh gave a little sheepish shrug. "Well that's easy. A cop, just like dad."


**Title: **Like Father, Like Son

**Fandom: **Josh/Jim (family), slight mention of Maddy/Mark

**Rating: **T

**Timeline: **After the finale

**Word Count: **2389

**Summary: **Taylor was now fully intrigued, and Wash had leaned up a bit just awaiting the next answer from the Shannon boy. "So tell me Josh, what do you want to be?" Taylor asked. Beaming, Josh gave a little sheepish shrug. "Well that's easy. A cop, just like dad."

**A/N: Happy New Year! This is dedicated to RoryFaller who gave me the idea to write this. Much love from me to you. :]**

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><p>Josh Shannon didn't understand why the hell this was necessary. For god's sake, did the Commander need to know his every little intention in life? Apparently so, because he was now sitting in the command center, across from good old Nathaniel himself, talking about the future.<p>

What this place was meant to be an escape from.

Right now, Josh wasn't too concerned with his future, hell, he wasn't even concerned of he'd be forced to sit through another very noninteresting round of playing dinosaur with Zoe that night after dinner. What he was concerned with, was the death of Kara.

Yes, that had been months ago. Just a fading memory. Oh sure, Josh had been pissed beyond all measure when he'd learned Wash was still alive, meaning his girlfriend would forever be used as the example of the first (and only, since Wash had been discovered alive and held captive in the Badlands) girl who died in "the war". Sure, he'd tried to forget seeing one of those Phoenix bastards drop her body by the gates as though she was meant to be exposed of. Josh still clung to those memories, even though he was trying to act as though everything had been left untouched, as though Kara was still trapped in the hell they called 2149. But no one saw through that mask.

Kara had meant a lot to him. He'd made deals with the devil in order to get her back in his arms. And then some idiotic suicide bomber under the control of the Bastards, as he liked to refer to the Phoenix Group as, threw all of that away in three seconds flat.

For some odd, uncanny, ballistic, absolutely mental, only-coming-from-the-mind-of-Alicia-Washington-herself reason, Taylor had requested (more like demanded in Josh's opinion) that anyone on the ninth and tenth pilgrimages who was soon to be an adult have a "conference". To discuss their future.

Josh didn't want to "discuss" his future.

He was perfectly content with working for Boylan, serving drinks to soldiers who didn't need anymore alcohol in their systems for the next decade. He was more than perfectly content with living with his parents, who fed him ( extremely well for that matter) and kept him loved.

The only restraint was his damned father. He loved his old man, but there were some days when Josh's moodiness got to the better of him, making him run true-to-form.

They had recently gotten into a squabble a few nights ago prior to this conference. Zoe and Maddy were off frolicking with Reynolds god knows where, and his mother was doing a late night shift that night. Jim and Josh thought that it would have been pretty relaxing to just have a little man time. As they'd been talking about anything juicy going on that Josh had overheard by one of the drunks at work (they gossiped like old women, but wouldn't dare admit it), Jim took that golden moment to tell his son that he was going to talk to Commander Taylor for one of those "future planning conference things". That's when the whole thing took a wrong turn.

"What do you mean I have to go talk to Taylor? I haven't done a single bad thing in months!" Josh had proclaimed. Jim merely waved it off.

"You're not in trouble son, it's something Taylor's requiring every young adult do," Jim explained, his voice level and calm. Josh had raised an eyebrow.

"And why the hell is he requiring us to do this?"

"To see if you're of any potential in the colony. Future medic, scientist, soldier, the next Boylan, stuff like that." Jim replied, setting his drink down on the island as Josh nodded slowly.

"Well that's easy, I already know what I want to be," Josh said. He sounded like Zoe every other day, who would run home and announce her new career plan. So far that week she had planned on becoming an astronaut, a soldier, (which her father had immediately killed that dream faster than Josh could've had the chance to laugh) a circus ringmaster, and a mermaid.

Jim beamed. Taylor would be pleased with Jim; his boy already had his future mapped out. "Oh really? And what might that be?" he asked, intrigued.

"A soldier under Taylor's command."

Jim almost choked on his drink. It was as though Maddy had just announced her and Mark had gone and eloped (to which he'd have to make sure didn't happen when she got home; Zoe'd always wanted to be in a wedding and Maddy had promised to let Zoe be in hers). "I'm sorry, what?" he'd exclaimed, coughing.

Josh just gave one of those little half smiles, one that said 'did you not hear me the first time?' "I'm going to be in Commander Taylor's army," he said again, an inkling of irritation in his voice.

Jim had snorted. "Like hell you are!"

Josh could feel his temper rise. "What do you mean?" he'd asked, his teeth starting to clench together so hard they felt as though they were on the verge of snapping.

Jim, to put things simply, was pissed. "I'm already giving Maddy away to Reynolds, you think I'm going to give you up to some carnotaurus? You've gotta be out of your mind; there's no way you're joining Taylor's army."

"Why not? Those Phoenix bastards killed my girlfriend, they almost stripped us of our second chance, I want to fight!"

"Josh, it's sweet that you want to get revenge for your girlfriend, but there's no way I'm letting you go join the damn army."

"Whatever dad. You'll see." And with that, Josh had taken a page out of Jim's self sufficient guide to dealing with his son entitled 'How to Deal With Your Hormonal Teenager' and stomped off.

And here he was, seventy four hours later, sitting in Taylor's office. Josh didn't know whether he should be terrified as hell or to be calm and collected like he knew his sister would be. Maddy wanted to be a scientist, she didn't have to worry about anything except killer fungi or deadly bacteria. Maddy wanted to be a scientist. And their dad would smile and say, "That's fabulous honey. Go for it."

There were some days when Josh wished he would have been born the female.

Taylor was scrolling through his data pad, the room silent enough that they would've been able to hear a pin drop three klicks out. Wash was standing by, arms folded over her chest. Josh applauded her; for a woman who'd been through hell and back, she was still tougher than nails and always got right back up. It still puzzled him how she'd survived that sonic blast to the head. She had to have been MADE of nails to live through that. Taylor set the data pad down onto the desk gently, folding his hands and setting them onto the desk.

"So Josh, tell me about yourself son."

Josh was weirded out. What was there to tell the Commander about himself, the man already knew everything about him before he stepped foot through the portal! So he cleared his throat and began talking, his voice shaky. "Well, I was born in Chicago-"

Taylor shook his head. "Not your life story boy. I mean tell me about yourself, what you wanna do in a few years." Josh had known this was coming, and he'd surprisingly been rehearsing the answer, knowing he had one shot to get it right.

"Well um, you see sir, back in 2149, some of the people in Hope Plaza made those of us who were recruited go through these psychiatric evaluations. To make-"

"Make sure you're emotionally stable before coming to Terra Nova, I'm familiar with the process." Taylor said, nodding slowly.

"Well, before they began videoing, they had us answer a few basic questions. Our names, age, where we were from, but the oddest one they made us answer was what we intended to do with our life."

Wash took that moment to begin speaking. "Just because a parent got recruited doesn't mean a child is off the hook. Hope Plaza would ask this to see if there was any potential in the children as well. They were told to keep the welfare of the colony in mind when doing these evaluations, and eventually, the life plans and goals questions went from a supplement question to a mandatory one. Once it became protocol, they had to ask."

Taylor smirked. "Bit bezerk if you asked me. But then again, that's kind of what we're doing here." Wash just shrugged as the two focused their attention back to the eldest Shannon child. "So you were saying?"

Josh nodded. "Anyways, so of course Maddy knew that she wanted to be a doctor or a scientist, but as for me, I really didn't know what I exactly wanted to be. Until I thought back onto the day when my dad got arrested."

Taylor and Wash just listened intently as Josh painfully retold the story of exactly how his father had gotten arrested. From the population officers destroying every inch of the apartment to hearing Zoe's helpless cry from the vent. He even went all the way as to describe when his father had been electrocuted to the ground in order for them to get the cuffs on him. Taylor could tell it was hurting the boy to just recall this. Wash cringed just a bit listening to the story; the population officers were ruthless bastards. Josh felt a lump in his throat, but he wouldn't dare cry. Not in front of the Commander and his second in command.

"And I remember just standing there crying, not because they'd just arrested my dad, but because they were tearing apart my family." Josh said shakily, taking a deep breath.

"My family is the most important thing to me. Anyone I love for I'll fight for, regardless of what they say or do. It's something my dad taught me and something I'll live by forever."

Taylor was now fully intrigued, and Wash had leaned up a bit just awaiting the next answer from the Shannon boy. "So tell me Josh, what do you want to be?" Taylor asked.

Beaming, Josh gave a little sheepish shrug. "Well that's easy. A cop, just like dad."

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><p>That night, Jim Shannon decided he'd pay Boylan's bar a visit. Sitting at a table in the far back corner, he was deeply immersed in his own thoughts until none other than Alicia Washington approached him. He looked up slowly to see the smirking woman hovering. "My my Wash, have my charm and good looks finally have you hooked?" he teased, wiggling his eyebrows.<p>

Alicia snorted as she took the seat opposite from Jim. Her hair was down and wavy even though she was still in her usual uniform of a black tank top and her camouflage pants. "Please Shannon, I'd rather be attracted to a carnotaurus than you."

Jim pretended to be offended by Alicia's statement, but waved it off by the time her own drink had arrived. "So Wash, enlighten me. Why are you at my table of all places? Most of the time you look as though you want to kick me where the sun doesn't shine."

Alicia frowned. "In case you don't remember Shannon, I was willing to give my life for you and your family." Jim gave a sheepish grin as he took a sip of his drink. Shrugging, Alicia rolled her eyes. "But no, I'm here to tell you about something that might interest you."

Jim cocked an eyebrow as Alicia cleared her throat and began talking. "Well the commander let me sit in on your kids' future discussion meeting whatever."

Jim's eyes widened. "Maddy didn't say anything about settling down with Reynolds did she?" Alicia just smiled and pretended to zip her lips. Jim's temper flared. He was going to kill Reynolds.

"Not saying! But this has nothing to do with Maddy's evaluation. It had to do with Josh's." At this point, Jim was a bit horrified.

"Oh god, whatever he said, I am so, so, so sorry-"

Alicia then put her hand over Jim's mouth. "Let me finish Shannon. Taylor asked him what he wanted to be and your boy got into this real long story about how you got arrested. At the end of the story though, he said he'd fight for the people he loved no matter what they said or did to him. Jim, your boy said he wanted to be a cop _just like you_." The way Alicia said the last three words sent chills down Jim's spine. _Just like him. _The smile on his face continually grew as Alicia just patted his hand. "And Taylor said one day he'll want your son on security. Like father, like son."

Alicia stood up, grabbing her drink. "Well I'm gone Shannon, got appointments for these evaluations backed up out the door for tomorrow and a woman needs her rest. I'll see you tomorrow, Jim." Squeezing his shoulder, Alicia walked off.

After a few moments of silence, Jim paid the tab and stood up to walk out. His son wanted to be just like him when he grew up. Jim suddenly regretted yelling at him. His boy just aspired to be like his father, that was all. The time Josh went OTG with Skye and her group of friends, it was just like Elisabeth had said. Jim had done the same thing. Josh would fight for the ones he loved, and Jim was proud he'd raised his son right. He wouldn't want his boy to act any other way.

_And he was going to have a long talk with Madelyn Shannon once he returned home._


End file.
